Marcelo Claure, Town Hall Meetings, New Family Share Pack Plan, Unlimited Individual Plan, Discussion Thread

[Fraydog]

I can tell you what it going on. Sprint doesnt pay third party dealer agents crap for 2 year contracts so they tell employees not to do them and send them away because it negatively effects every metric.

 

They then go to corporate store where we are hitting 80-90% lease/easy pay sales and we get paid x3 as much for each phone upgrade sale on lease instead of 2 year from the sales rep, to the store manager, all the way up to them DMs. That is why they are getting told this stuff. Sprint is doing everything it can to get employees to not do 2 year contracts.

 

All new customers are used to the new way of buying phones and all the plans and deals like etf are based on unsubsidized.

 

 

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Pardon me, if I may play devil's advocate for a bit. If that's Sprint's intention, then why not just pull contracts together. 

[cortney]

http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/special-reports/how-verizon-att-t-mobile-and-sprint-stacked-q2-2015?confirmation=123

 

Fierce, registration may be required. Deals with a lot of the nonsense that Sprint is sticking with contract plans. They really aren't.

 

I lol'd at the comment that mentioned blah blah blah after Verizon removes CDMA radios from their phones. 

 

Whatever brain-dead fool could think Verizon is even remotely close to having the density nationwide to support ubiquitous VoLTE or LTE and just retire CDMA is certainly not one worth listening to. 

[Fraydog]

I lol'd at the comment that mentioned blah blah blah after Verizon removes CDMA radios from their phones.

 

Whatever brain-dead fool could think Verizon is even remotely close to having the density nationwide to support ubiquitous VoLTE or LTE and just retire CDMA is certainly not one worth listening to.

I live in a rural VZW area.

 

Still plenty of places where 3G fallback is required. More places where they are oversold.

 

 

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[cortney]

I live in a rural VZW area.

 

Still plenty of places where 3G fallback is required. More places where they are oversold.

 

And of course my wink wasn't indicating my statement was sarcastic. They have a million holes in their LTE like all carriers.

 

It doesn't matter if they have more overall LTE or even if they happen to have higher urban or suburban density in a certain area of a market. Verizon will need CDMA for years to come, no question, even if they get 98% or 99.9999% VoLTE lit up.

 

The fallback won't go away until massive densification occurs. 

Edited August 11, 2015 by cortney

[kg4icg]

I read somewhere today that Verizon's VoLTE usage is half of what T-Mobile's is. Now what kind of numbers is that I don't know.

[jroepcke51]

I read somewhere today that Verizon's VoLTE usage is half of what T-Mobile's is. Now what kind of numbers is that I don't know.

More recently, I can't seem to keep a call with a Tmo customer in albuquerque (my inlaws and most of my coworkers).  It is truly terrible. I find myself back in the 90's saying "can you hear me now?" and then I lose them. 

 

It is a great idea but not a properly thought out soloution going forward.

[dnicekid]

Does sprint offer an upgrade fee for any lease??

[JeffDTD]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/doubts-grow-about-whether-softbank-can-save-sprint-1439346616

 

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[tommym65]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/doubts-grow-about-whether-softbank-can-save-sprint-1439346616

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Link requires sign-in. Google "Wall Street Journal SoftBank Sprint" for link to public view of article.

 

Very interesting analysis, but not entirely encouraging.

[Fraydog]

Some tidbits of that article:

 

• Masa talked to Comcast and Altice about buying Sprint. Neither would bite.
• Nikesh Akora doesn't like the idea of SoftBank owning Sprint, as he popped hints to Brian Roberts (Comcast Chairman) and Patrick Drahi (Altice CEO) among others.
• Masa's primary plan was buying both Sprint and T-Mobile. 
• Merger could come back if the right leadership takes over the White House in 2016. 
• Masa has denounced Sprint ideas as stupid and denounced their "sleepy, Midwestern culture."
• Rip and replace of the complete network was a painful process.
• Son considered writing Sprint off as a total loss.
• Marcelo is more of a cubicle sort of guy, a wood paneled executive suite is no longer used.
• Cancellation rate is at the lowest in company history.
• Cash pinch has made overhaul more complex.
• For now, Son is "happy he didn't sell (Sprint)."

Yeah, that's not a really great bullet point list. However how different is this from any time after the Nextel debacle?  It seems like, from my outside perspective, it's been one thing after another since Nextel. 

 

"Sink or swim!" seems like an appropriate summary, but if we're in the desperation stage, what I'd like to see is Sprint exhibiting desperation. The small cell plan seems appropriate but it's not like we have many details of that at this point. SoftBank is much more close to the vest than Sprint was on this sort of thing. 

[Arysyn]

Some tidbits of that article:

 

• Masa talked to Comcast and Altice about buying Sprint. Neither would bite.
• Nikesh Akora doesn't like the idea of SoftBank owning Sprint, as he popped hints to Brian Roberts (Comcast Chairman) and Patrick Drahi (Altice CEO) among others.
• Masa's primary plan was buying both Sprint and T-Mobile.
• Merger could come back if the right leadership takes over the White House in 2016.
• Masa has denounced Sprint ideas as stupid and denounced their "sleepy, Midwestern culture."
• Rip and replace of the complete network was a painful process.
• Son considered writing Sprint off as a total loss.
• Marcelo is more of a cubicle sort of guy, a wood paneled executive suite is no longer used.
• Cancellation rate is at the lowest in company history.
• Cash pinch has made overhaul more complex.
• For now, Son is "happy he didn't sell (Sprint)."

Yeah, that's not a really great bullet point list. However how different is this from any time after the Nextel debacle? It seems like, from my outside perspective, it's been one thing after another since Nextel.

 

"Sink or swim!" seems like an appropriate summary, but if we're in the desperation stage, what I'd like to see is Sprint exhibiting desperation. The small cell plan seems appropriate but it's not like we have many details of that at this point. SoftBank is much more close to the vest than Sprint was on this sort of thing.

I was unable to read the article on the WSJ website. I tried the advice some people gave me here awhile back in regards to getting WSJ articles to show up in the case WSJ wouldn't let me in, despite that I haven't used up the free alloted article reads. The advice worked in the past, but didn't this time around.

 

Anyways, I read the points. Thank you for posting them, Fraydog. Alot of the negative points were concerns I had about Softbank some time ago. Since then though, I've been trying to think positive about Softbank's ownership of Sprint. I've even mentioned some bold ideas Softbank would need to heavily finance for Sprint, in order to really help Sprint, particularly in regards to Marcelo's vision for Sprint to become the #1 or #2 carrier.

 

Yet, now it seems Masa has backed away from his vision of having a major wireless carrier in the U.S. to his big company idea. I still think Masa believes that the best solution to help benefit Sprint's network, is to acquire T-Mobile and merge them together for a denser network, while spending less on densifying areas that don't also bring with them additional subscribers. By spending money on densifying Sprint's network rather than on an acquisition of T-Mobile, Masa isn't getting any subscribers from it. For whatever reason, perhaps Masa doesn't believe by densifying Sprint's network to a really amazing experience will bring new subscribers over to Spring.

 

However, hopefully Masa is changing his mind on these negative points about Sprint. Although, his new positivity from the good results Sprint has been having, needs to be viewed well by Nikesh Arora. Otherwise, Sprint may be sold or broken up before it really gets great during NGN, which by great means mainstream reputation becoming a lot more positive, along with excellent nationwide network testing results.

 

I might get some criticism for saying this. So as a disclaimer, I don't particularly want this to happen unless it meant for Sprint's best in the long run, granted if this news means Softbank is unwilling to do help Sprint anymore. I want to see Sprint succeed, but without the negativity of an uninterested company running it. So, I'm curious with the report made by John Legere on Periscope I read about here on S4GRU in the T-Mobile thread. If DT is going to try acquiring Sprint, or if Dish has some plan for both companies, which I'm not sure of this, of course. I'm speculating on these mergers and am interested in them, especially if it means a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile which my opinion of that, despite wanting to see Softbank fully fund Sprint and NGN regardless, I also think a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile is a good thing too.

 

I apologize for the bit of run on words here. I'm still not doing well.

[utiz4321]

Some tidbits of that article:

 

• Masa talked to Comcast and Altice about buying Sprint. Neither would bite.
• Nikesh Akora doesn't like the idea of SoftBank owning Sprint, as he popped hints to Brian Roberts (Comcast Chairman) and Patrick Drahi (Altice CEO) among others.
• Masa's primary plan was buying both Sprint and T-Mobile.
• Merger could come back if the right leadership takes over the White House in 2016.
• Masa has denounced Sprint ideas as stupid and denounced their "sleepy, Midwestern culture."
• Rip and replace of the complete network was a painful process.
• Son considered writing Sprint off as a total loss.
• Marcelo is more of a cubicle sort of guy, a wood paneled executive suite is no longer used.
• Cancellation rate is at the lowest in company history.
• Cash pinch has made overhaul more complex.
• For now, Son is "happy he didn't sell (Sprint)."

Yeah, that's not a really great bullet point list. However how different is this from any time after the Nextel debacle? It seems like, from my outside perspective, it's been one thing after another since Nextel.

 

"Sink or swim!" seems like an appropriate summary, but if we're in the desperation stage, what I'd like to see is Sprint exhibiting desperation. The small cell plan seems appropriate but it's not like we have many details of that at this point. SoftBank is much more close to the vest than Sprint was on this sort of thing.

I think he is right about sprint's sleepy Midwestern culture. In the past they have lack a sense of urgency to execute that a fast past tech company would have. Marcelo seems to have change that and I hope they keep it up.

 

This article should give some pause to those that think SoftBank Is willing to expend unlimited resources on a sprint turnaround and would not sell sprint. They are looking for a return on their investment and if they don't think they'll get it they'll cut their loses.

[Fraydog]

I think Marcelo is on the right path, but I do wonder if he's aggressive enough in some ways. The RadioShack buyout was condemned in many circles, but without that, Sprint loses their largest preferred reseller and are at a giant disadvantage against Magenta on the ground trying to move accounts out the door. I realize RadioShack was/is a mess, but it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" because the same people complaining about RadioShack would complain also about Sprint's lack of on the ground sales. I realize lots of us use online but lots of the not so savvy consumers still depend on stores, not to mention they're a good place to exhibit tech.

 

Then there's who have decried Sprint's cell density saying it's been lacking for the last decade. I have a pretty decent reply to why Sprint's density is lacking - in short, it's due to the duplicate networks Sprint ran under Forsee and the subsequent dodging of bankruptcy under Hesse.

 

http://www.howardforums.com/showpost.php?p=16021031

 

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[utiz4321]

I think Marcelo is on the right path, but I do wonder if he's aggressive enough in some ways. The RadioShack buyout was condemned in many circles, but without that, Sprint loses their largest preferred reseller and are at a giant disadvantage against Magenta on the ground trying to move accounts out the door. I realize RadioShack was/is a mess, but it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" because the same people complaining about RadioShack would complain also about Sprint's lack of on the ground sales. I realize lots of us use online but lots of the not so savvy consumers still depend on stores, not to mention they're a good place to exhibit tech.

 

Then there's who have decried Sprint's cell density saying it's been lacking for the last decade. I have a pretty decent reply to why Sprint's density is lacking - in short, it's due to the duplicate networks Sprint ran under Forsee and the subsequent dodging of bankruptcy under Hesse.

 

http://www.howardforums.com/showpost.php?p=16021031

 

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Why they are where they are is not really relevant in a competitive market, that is consumers don't care and they shouldn't. Sprint is a market participant seeking profits, it can only do that by offering services that serves the needs of the consumer at a competitive price. They aren't doing that, maybe they are in the path to doing that but the consumer is going to ask "does this work for me at a price I am willing to pay?", not how did sprint get here.

On the plus side they do have so much spectrum that they have yet to put into play that they can change their situation rather quick, especially as their competitors have a harder time meeting the demand for data.

[Fraydog]

Why they are where they are is not really relevant in a competitive market, that is consumers don't care and they shouldn't. Sprint is a market participant seeking profits, it can only do that by offering services that serves the needs of the consumer at a competitive price. They aren't doing that, maybe they are in the path to doing that but the consumer is going to ask "does this work for me at a price I am willing to pay?", not how did sprint get here.

On the plus side they do have so much spectrum that they have yet to put into play that they can change their situation rather quick, especially as their competitors have a harder time meeting the demand for data.

That's precisely why I say Sprint has to be more desperate. They have to be in order to get attention from the market. If they get attractive pricing, data speeds, and coverage, consumers won't care about what I mentioned either. Soon[emoji769] is sort of a running joke but if Sprint can say "we're 1 in speeds NOW" that will erase the past of Forsee more than anything else.

 

 

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[WiWavelength]

Members, the posted graphic (now hidden) from behind the WSJ paywall could be serious copyright infringement, which could mean the end of S4GRU.  We do not have the funds for litigation.  So, please be careful.

 

AJ

[JeffDTD]

 

"Sink or swim!" seems like an appropriate summary, but if we're in the desperation stage, what I'd like to see is Sprint exhibiting desperation. The small cell plan seems appropriate but it's not like we have many details of that at this point. SoftBank is much more close to the vest than Sprint was on this sort of thing. 

 

Yep.  I hated reading the WSJ article.  I don't think the Softbank or Sprint folks that allowed some of this info to be gleaned from them completely understand the satisfaction that US media takes in divulging Sprint's pain, misfortune, or struggles.  I understand that Softbank started this conversation by re-affirming its support of Sprint, but the digging to explain what happened up that point is tabloid tech media porn. 

 

Beyond that, Son could still be playing a long game to score a mega merger if Sprint ends up in a cash bind or continues to falter.  I hope there is real magic in the network density project. The network is definitely competitive, but I don't think the brand can withstand another prolonged pummeling. 

[EvanA]

Claure is locked up with Sprint through May 31st, 2019

 

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article30751155.html

[bucdenny]

Claure is locked up with Sprint through May 31st, 2019

 

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article30751155.html

 

at 10 million shares assuming the company doesn't go bankrupt. 

[jroepcke51]

at 10 million shares assuming the company doesn't go bankrupt. 

To get said shares, the stock price has to average at or above $8 through a 150 day period. 

[sbolen]

To get said shares, the stock price has to average at or above $8 through a 150 day period.

That's a great performance-based incentive.

[WillM]

Did anyone read the comments on that WSJ article? There is an interesting one by some guy who was considering doing some work for ALU. 

[twospirits]

Yep. I hated reading the WSJ article. I don't think the Softbank or Sprint folks that allowed some of this info to be gleaned from them completely understand the satisfaction that US media takes in divulging Sprint's pain, misfortune, or struggles. I understand that Softbank started this conversation by re-affirming its support of Sprint, but the digging to explain what happened up that point is tabloid tech media porn.

I said it before (with Marcelo talking with Legere) and I'll say it again this time adding Son and Akora. But these guys dont know when to shut up. It doesn't give confidence to customers, workers or shareholders alike when they says they was looking to dump Sprint. SMH

 

TS

 

 

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[OhioCalling]

I guess you can't read the comments unless you are subscribed to the website

[WiWavelength]

at 10 million shares assuming the company doesn't go bankrupt. 

To get said shares, the stock price has to average at or above $8 through a 150 day period. 

That's a great performance-based incentive.

 

Either way, because of Brightstar, I doubt that Marcelo's bank account will be hurting.

 

These guys must love money -- or the pursuit of money.

 

As I work in education, I make less than $50,000 per year.  But I have the time and money to do what I want to do -- such as research and write for S4GRU.  Even if I made 100 times my earnings, I do not think I would live my life that differently.  Maybe I would just buy every handset released, set up my own RF testing lab, and publish the results for free.

 

AJ